17Feb2022 Market Close & Major Financial Headlines: DOW closes Down 622 points, NASDAQ Down A Whopping 2.9%, S&P 500 Slips To 2.1%, Walmart’s Advertising Business Soars 130%, 2-Year Treasury Rate Had Its Biggest One-Day Drop In Almost A Month
Headlines:
Russia Is Ready To Send More Gas To Italy
Rising Lithium Prices Could Derail The EV Boom
Ford’s Mustang Mach-E beats Tesla’s Model 3
Bonds & Bullion Bid As Bullard & Blinken Bloviation Batters Big-Tech & Bitcoin
Rising Sex Costs As Durex Raises Prices
Wall Street opened by gaping downward for the second session with investors attempting to cut their losses. The DOW slid over 400 points in the first thirty minutes. Many analysts are predicting a continued weak market influenced by a growing inflation spiral and the imminent invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces.
For most of today’s session, the market moved sideways, marked by a notable absence of BTFDers. Everyone, it seems, is waiting for the second shoe to fall, believing the Wall Street elite are trying to sell Hopium spiked KoolAid to the sheeples. Others have said that the markets are at the top of a dead cat bounce and suggest tightening seatbelts for the roller-coaster ride down.
During the final hour, equity losses gained traction and negatively impacted market sentiment. With more than 500 explosions in Ukraine last night, Russian “shelling” hit a kindergarten and injured two teachers, further exacerbating Russia/Ukraine tensions.
Gold prices jumped to an eight-month high (1900), and other precious metals continued to rise. On the other hand, WTI crude is sharply down from its 96 dollar high three sessions ago.
New residential construction permits grew 0.7% month-over-month but year-over-year growth was a modest 0.8%. Construction completions declined 5.2% month-over-month and are down 6.2% year-over-year.
Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims was was 248,000 – an increase of 23,000 from the previous week. The 4-week moving average was 243,250, a decrease of 10,500 from the previous week
As usual, we have included below the headlines and news summaries moving the markets today.